


Why You Have To Alternate The Guard

by kierathefangirl



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 3 Italy brothers, GerIta maybe?, Italy Brothers, M/M, Multi, Royal guard au, prisoner au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-25 11:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14377914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kierathefangirl/pseuds/kierathefangirl
Summary: Toni, a royal guard, is transferred to a new facility. He finds a lot of people who want him dead...and one golden gem.





	1. They All Want To Kill Me

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings galore. Rape, abuse, and depression.
> 
> First person POV. Perspectives identified at beginning of chapter.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A royal guard is transferred to a prison full of old guards. He is surprised by what he discovers there.

**_~Toni~_ **

All the prisoners here, once unleashed in a room alone with me, try to kill me.

All but one.


	2. All But One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All but one.

**_~Toni~_ **

All but one.

All the prisoners try to kill me—all but one.

He’s the youngest here, he’s small and weak. They throw him into the room with me and let him roughly hit the floor, then slam the cell door and leave me alone with him. Most of them immediately got up and charged me, and I had to admit the previous guards’ death sentences were valid. But this one doesn’t get up; to the contrary, he scoots up against one wall, trembling slightly, and presses as far from me as he can get.


	3. One Prisoner Among Hundreds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The royal guard, Toni, approaches the last prisoner: the first one who doesn't try to kill him.

**_~Toni~_ **

I move across the room and kneel down. He presses away into the wall, and at this distance I can see he’s crying. I wonder what he did to get landed in here.

“He’s a mage,” one of the guards tells me through the door-slit. “I wouldn’t advise getting so close to him, he’s volatile. He stole medicine and wouldn’t give it back. We searched him and couldn’t find it, but we caught him red-handed.”

I ignore the guard’s warning, but I take note of why he’s here. “Hey, are you okay?”

He looks up, and his fingertips are sparking with fearful magic. I sit down next to him, take off my helm, and slide my weapons across the room as a display of vulnerability, in the hopes it’ll assuage his fears and let him speak.

For a couple tense minutes the guards tell me all the reasons I should back away and pick up my weapons, and slowly the guy relaxes. He melts from the wall, his fingers stop sparking, and he scoots a little to the side to create room between us. Not listening to them is quickly paying off.

I hold out a hand, palm-up, in offering. “I’m Toni. What’s your name?”

He looks back and forth between my hand and my eyes and my discarded sword for several minutes. But just as my arm begins to tire, he lays one of his soft hands lightly over mine. “Lovino.”

The guards exclaim in frustration at my lack of caution. I flip one of them off, and it’s enough for them to shout, “It’s your loss!” and slam the visor shut. They expect him to kill me, but I have a feeling…

I drop my hand back to my side. He looks a little surprised. “Aren’t…they…”

“My coworkers,” I finish, and I shrug. “Doesn’t mean I have to listen. Respect goes both ways. If they won’t respect my judgment, I won’t take their advice.”

He blinks a couple times, breathes, glances towards the door. But despite their judgment of him, he relaxes and actually looks away, which may seem small for most people but in the current case where I could kill him and get away with it…it’s a huge leap of faith on his part.

I’m able to scoot closer, close enough to touch him if I reach out a little. He stiffens and his eyes snap back, but he doesn’t move away this time. He just watches me with wary eyes.

“Why?” I ask him.

He blinks. “No one asks why.”

“I always ask why.”

He shifts and gives me an uncertain, vulnerable look like he’s not sure how to react. But after a minute or so, his mouth opens again. “My brother.”

“What?”

He looks away. “I have a thirteen-year-old little brother. He got sick, and we live on the streets. We don’t have money—never have, no one likes us—so I got medicine and gave it to him. He immediately got better, but I got caught. I’ve been looking after him because our older brother is a lawyer and doesn’t have the time to—he’s twenty-five but he’s busy.”

“How old are you?”

“Fifteen.”

“Oh. I’m seventeen.”

He blinks again and looks back. “Huh?”

I smile shyly. “What?”

He blinks once. “You’re a teenager?”

I nod.

“Most of the guards are…”

“Older than me,” I agree. “Most of them think I’m too young to think clearly, but I’ve actually gotten more done with my ideas than anyone’s ever done with theirs. It’s why I’m a royal guard—I started at the bottom. The royals tend to send me wherever there’s a lot of prisoners and have me call the final verdict since I have a clearer head than most of the adults. The other guards don’t like it and they don’t trust me or my judgment half the time, but the king does and he has the most power.”

“Oh.”

“Where’re you from?” I ask.

“Italia,” he says meekly. Italia and España are often neck-and-neck with one another, and he seems to expect me to have the same ‘ _ oh, you’re Italian _ ’ bias of the other Spaniards here.

“Explains why they’re being dicks to you,” I dismiss.

He blinks several times rapidly, frowns, and gives me a weird bewildered look. “What?”

I raise an eyebrow, testing the waters of his expectations. “What?”

“You’re Spanish.”

“So? Nationalities don’t define us, we do.”

He melts and releases a slow breath. He looks sort of calm now, and his magic isn’t swirling as fast. His hands look like anyone’s would now. He doesn’t  _ trust me  _ necessarily, but there’s some level of respect he’s returning to me.

The other guards showed him no respect, so they got none in return. I do, and this is the payout. This is why I don’t hurt people. This is why I show respect to everyone unless my life is immediately, directly threatened.

Lovi’s eyes sweep me over a couple times, and curiosity has replaced most of the fear. “Who  _ are  _ you?”

I shrug casually, like it doesn’t matter. “A teenager whose family kicked him out for dumb shit that just wants to make a difference.”

He blinks, his eyes narrow in confusion, he raises an eyebrow, then he looks up at me with curious eyes. “Dumb shit?”

“Bi.”

“Oh,” he says. He looks away. “Me, too.”

“What?”

He coughs. “We left Italy because Sebastian’s bi, Feli’s bi and transgender, and I’m gay and transgender. Our family kicked us out.”

I give him a blank look. He coughs again. “Seb’s older; Feli’s thirteen.”

“You were protecting Feli,” I say uncertainly.

He nods. I thinks about it. “Is Feli okay?”

“Probably worried as hell and panicking,” he says, “but physically he’s prob’ly fine. He tends to turn to Seb or I when he’s scared, and Seb’s busy and I’m…”

He drifts off and gestures vaguely. “Here.”

“Where were you?”

“Bafael. The city, not the capital.”

“Oh. D’you think he’s still there?”

Lovi’s eyes widen and he gives me a sort of scared look. “I don’t know, probably. Why?”

I look away and impart something personal in return: “I have three older brothers. I’m the baby. I relied on them for everything before all this shit went down. I know how you feel.”

He relaxes again. “Oh.”

I breathe and look back. “I have more influence than anyone here. I don’t think you’re a bad person—I’d do no different in your place.”

“What are you saying?” he asks, and he sounds nervous now.

I shut my eyes a moment. “We’re getting you out of here alive. Ninety-nine percent of the other people are gonna die because they’re assholes and they tried to kill me, but you’re not.”

He gives me a wide-eyed look. “Why?”

“Because you’re sweet, you’re selfless, and you don’t deserve the same fate as the murderers, sneak thieves, and assholes.”

“You’re seriously underestimating him,” one of the guards says through the door visor. “He nearly killed one of our men!”

“He’s a kid and you scared the shit out of him,” I point out without even sparing a glance that way. “Fuck off.”

Lovi blushes and looks the other way. I use the magic the other guards aren’t aware of to slam the visor shut and heal the weak child. Then I bring him to his feet and take one of his hands, and I flick open the door with a dismissive pointer finger.

The guards all lift their weapons in anticipation of a fight. I send my weapons and helm back to the rack with a flick of one finger, then draw him to the door. “Move.”

The head guard lifts his sword higher. “No. He has you charmed!”

“You can’t charm a magician,” I point out with a flashed smile.

Lovi peeks out from behind me. I glare at them. “Move.”

They don’t move, so I use my magic to shove them aside and pull Lovi safely through. “He’s coming with me,” I tell them. “Do what you will with the rest.”


	4. Bafael Linshten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pair travels by magickal teleportation to the capital city of España: Bafael Linshten.

**_~Toni~_ **

There’s a bright flash around us, and now we’re in the capital city of Bafael Linshten. I turn to Lovi. “If you stray too far, they might hurt you. Spaniards generally don’t take too kindly to Italians. Try and stick close. Basically, plan is, I’ll talk to the king, then you pull that cute shy shit on him and he’ll be promising to look out for your brothers in a heartbeat.”

He blushes a bit, but he nods his understanding.

I take his hand and draw him through the crowd, and he just sort of lets me. He manages to sort of keep up with me—he’s shorter—and he doesn’t fight my grip or anything: another sign that he doesn’t deserve the same fate as the other people who were in that prison. They all attacked me, and Lovi talked to me and just follows me around meekly like one of those cute stray puppies with a limp that melts your heart in an instant.

Finally we reach the throne room. I take a deep breath. “Try not to piss anyone off.”

He nods and doesn’t answer. I knock on the door. “Your majesty! Requesting an audience!”


	5. ‘Cute Shy Shit’

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lovi meets King Nicolás Alejandro d’España.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning. Lovi's grandfather is abusive and it's mentioned in decent detail.

**_~Lovi~_ **

_ ‘Cute shy shit’? Really? I didn’t think that was cute. I was just scared. _

We move into the room. Toni drops to one respectful knee, but even with what he could heal if I go down my shattered kneecap (on my left) will absolutely  _ not  _ let me get up afterwards. I still turn my eyes away in an attempt to show I don’t disrespect him and his authority, and I put a little bit of a nervous bounce into my good leg because Toni seems to find nerves cute, so maybe the king will too.

The king instructs Toni to “rise, guardsman,” then looks to me. “Who is this?”

“This is Lovino,” Toni introduces me. “He got kicked out of his family in Italy for a similar reason I got kicked out of mine here, and he has a thirteen-year-old little brother Feli and an older twenty-five-year-old brother Sebastian. He’s fifteen.”

“And why is he here?”

“He stole medicine,” Toni says, and the man stiffens before Toni finishes, “to save Feli’s life.”

The last four words bring the king up short. “What?”

“His little brother got sick, he’s thirteen. They’re homeless because, in his words ‘ _ no one likes them _ ’, and they don’t have any money. So he stole medicine to save his brother’s life, knowing full well the consequences if he got caught.”

The king looks to me. I glance at him, shift a little, and look away again.

The king gets up, descends from his throne, and approaches me. “He’s shy.”

“He is,” Toni agrees. “Took me about ten minutes just to calm him down and get a name.”

I quickly backpedal a few steps, and now both of them learn why I didn’t get up and try to run when they threw me in with Toni: my left leg gives out from under me, and if there wasn’t a wall there I could fall sideways and catch myself on I would’ve hit the rough stone floor. As is I nearly collapse, and a completely involuntary groan of pain steals breath from unhinged lips.

“Oh,” the king says, “he’s hurt.”

“That’s  _ with _ me healing him as much as I could without knocking myself unconscious,” Toni says. “I don’t know what they did to him, but whatever it is was pretty bad.”

The king mutters some kind of Spanish curse, going by the tone and Toni’s quiet sharp inhale. I push off the wall and limp back another few steps. I don’t trust anyone other than Sebastian, and these people have every ability to kill me and every reason to get away with it: power, cover story; you name it they have it. I hate feeling so vulnerable. I’d run if the door wasn’t closed and guarded and the window three floors (some hundred or so feet) off the ground. I’d run if I could.

“He doesn’t bite,” Toni says in a placating tone. “You don’t need to run.”

One of the guards in the room (apparently behind me) shoves me a little, and one shove is enough for me to hit the floor. I land on my right knee, luckily, but it still hits on a bruise so it hurts enough for me to squeak a little and tumble away.

Toni sighs and lifts me up to my feet, and he pulls me over to one side of the room and props me up on the wall. “Just stay here. The more you try to run the more you hurt yourself.”

The king follows Toni across the room, which puts him only a few inches from me when Toni steps back. “He did this with me, too,” Toni assures the king. “He’s kinda scared of people.”

“You would be too if they did to you what they did to me,” I snap at royal guard boy before I can think better of it.

“Which is…?” the king invites.

Wide eyes whirl on him. He laughs a little. “Go on.”

I shake my head rapidly back and forth. The king looks to Toni, who tells him I have almost all my ribs broken or bruised, three ribs in lungs, a shattered kneecap, and a million bruises.

The king returns his eyes to me and looks me over critically once. “Damn.”

I press a little into the wall. I hate feeling vulnerable. I hate vulnerability. I hate this feeling.

_ Please don’t hurt me. _

I don’t realize I’ve spoken the words aloud, even a whisper, until the king actually responds to it. “My job is not to hurt you,” he says.

I look up from my feet and my shoulders reach towards my ears. “Um.”

The king flashes a smile at me. “King Nicolás Alejandro d’España,” he says with a bow.

I blink, look uncertainly to Toni, look to the door. But there’s no escaping now. I couldn’t run if I tried. I guess…

I take a small step from the wall. The king backs up a little to compensate and raises an anticipatory eyebrow.

Again I look to Toni.  _ Nationalities don’t define us, we do, _ his voice reminds me.

I breathe. “Prince Lovino Romano Vargas d’Italia.”

Toni stiffens with surprise, and the king laughs a little. “Prince?”

I shrug. “I kinda got kicked out, but…yeah. My grandfather hates me though and he’s in control.”

“Huh,” he says. “What if he wasn’t in control anymore?”

“My uncle would probably take over, he’s his favorite son. He hates me too.”

“Well, both of them.”

“My dad would take over? Why?”

“And you’d be able to go home,” he says.

I nod. He nods, too. “Then we have a plan. And in the meantime, we need to keep Feli, you, and Sebastian alive and safe…probably within castle walls, since Italians aren’t too popular right now.”

“What?” I ask blankly.

A small smile breaks across Toni’s face. “You’re a fucking  _ prince _ ?”

I shift a little and look towards him. “Yeah? Why’s that such a big deal?”

“I just—I never would’ve guessed.” Toni laughs. “I dunno, you don’t seem the type.”

“The type?”

“My sons hold themselves like royalty and speak with confidence,” the king says. “You’re…not quite opposite, but definitely not as confident.”

“I also haven’t slept in a few weeks and I’m basically dying from pain and dehydration and starvation,” I point out. “I’d normally walk a little different but if I walk like I normally do my knee’ll give out from under me.”

“That’s a valid point,” the king agrees.

“I’d try and heal you more but it  _ would  _ knock me out and it  _ could  _ kill me,” Toni says, and he actually sounds a little flustered.

“I’m not saying you have to—” I sigh exhaustedly and look away. “You’ve been nice to me.  _ And _ respectful. That’s more than I could’ve asked for or expected. You don’t have to do anything else.”

Toni blinks a couple times. The king looks to him a moment, then back to me with this slightly worried look. “Are people usually—”

“People either try to kill me, run away, do other things I can’t say the word for, or talk to me like I’m the dog shit on the bottom of their shoe,” I override him. “ _ That _ ’s not normal.”

I gesture vaguely towards Toni. “I mean, seriously. You heard what the others were saying.”

Toni blushes a little. “Unless someone tries to kill me the moment they’re released, I treat everyone with respect. It pays off.”

“Yeah, well, keep doing that. It’s nice to not have to worry about someone for a change.”

Toni goes full-on scarlet now. The king laughs a bit with a strained voice, then offers, “The…other thing…you’re talking rape, right?”

I choke a bit and my shoulders tense up. “Um.”

“He’s transgender and homosexual,” Toni says, “so it wouldn’t be too surprising for dickheads in power to do that.”

I blink a couple times and repeat back, “‘ _ Dickheads in power _ ’?”

Toni blushes a little. “Most guards are. It’s why you have to alternate the guard every few days. If you don’t they get violent and horrible because no one’s there to stop them.”

The king chuckles. “There are  _ kings _ who fall in that category.”

“My grandfather’s one of them,” I mutter.

“What?”

His eyes turn back to me, and so do Toni’s. King— _ what’d’he say his name was again? Oh, right _ —Nicolás Alejandro d’España gives me a blank look. “Repeat that?”

“What? I didn’t say anything.”

“Lovi,” Toni reaches out with his voice, a sweet thing of entreaty: “please.”

The king crooks a skeptical eyebrow. I look away. “Romano Ambrosi Vargas d’Italia isn’t a king in the true sense of the word. He’s an overbearing, abusive tyrant with too much power who knows all the ways to abuse it. He’s seventy-three years of abusive, ignorant, assholish royalty. If Sebastian and I didn’t keep him away from Feli and vice versa, he wouldn’t be the sweet and innocent and happy-go-lucky thirteen-year-old he is and that everyone loves him for being. He’d be as broken as we are.”

Tension embitters the air and darkens the room. I sigh and look back. “He’s one of those  _ dickheads in power _ —sometimes literally.”

It takes a second, and Toni starts to awkward-laugh. The Spanish king starts coughing and choking, which quickly morphs into awkward laughter.

I take a step away from the wall, but not towards the king; this step angles towards the angel who actually treated me well.

I don’t particularly trust the king. I don’t like him. I don’t  _ dislike  _ him per se, I don’t disrespect him; he’s been nicer than most kings would’ve been to a prince of a rival kingdom. But Toni has proven already that he can be trusted, that he gives a damn about me, and that he will defend me if need be.

Toni catches his breath. “That’s horrible!”

I shrug. “If you joke about horrible things you can make it stop hurting. At least temporarily.”

He gives me this teary-eyed desperately hopeful look. The emerald rings around his inky pupils glisten with bubbles of emotion, and desperation drives hope to glow in pained orbs of life.

I move up to him, making sure not to put too much weight on my injured leg. He holds still and lets me approach, and he doesn’t try to stop me when I reach up and catch one of the falling tears with a finger. “Don’t do that. Sometimes it takes a lot of shit to make a person strong. Love, hugs, and kisses doesn’t make diamonds; pressure does.”

His arms wrap gently around my torso and draw my body against his. Eyes burrow into my shoulder, and he’s actually crying now. After years of experience with my brother doing this when overwhelmed, my arms reach up and around him without a second’s consideration. He melts into a puddle of puppy-eyed goo in my arms, and I feel for the first time like I may have accidentally made a friend.


	6. Stay, Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni discovers Lovi's softer side.

The king leaves the room unhindered, but the bedroom door shuts and locks by magic when I go to follow. I turn to Lovi and give him a questioning look.

He doesn’t make eye contact. His mossy-green eyes angle towards the wall. “Don’t go. I don’t like being alone, and I don’t have a way to get ahold of my brothers. I usually stay with one of them.”

_ I don’t trust you enough to stay. _

Lovi’s voice gets so soft I almost don’t catch him whispering this pleading call: “Stay, angel.”

_ Angel? _

Lovi curls on his side in a little ball, and his hands tremble slightly. My melted heart wins over my uncertain head, and I give in. I flick a finger to trade my work clothes for my night t-shirt and jeans.

Lovi seems to recognize right when he wins. He glances towards me again, and he speaks in a slightly louder voice to say, “You actually look your age in that.”

I’m not sure how to react to that, so I flash a weak smile rather than trying to say anything. I move over and slip in next to him.

He scoots over to make room for me and curls up on his left side facing me, and almost immediately his eyes blink closed; he’s limp and asleep.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.  _ How are you gonna learn to trust each other if you never give one another a chance? Give him a chance. If he fucks it up, then we know he’s impossible. If he doesn’t, maybe we can be friends. _


End file.
